Arundhati Roy described Modi’s first term as a “fascist regime”.

Arundhati Roy

She said in an interview with DW News: “There are thousands of people in jails across the country; poor and disadvantaged people fighting for their homes, for their lands, for their dignity. These people have been accused of sedition and worse, languishing without trial in crowded prisons.
“We are up against a regime that its own police calls fascist. In the India of today, it is a crime to belong to a minority. To be poor is a crime. To defend the poor is to plot to overthrow the government.”

Following Modi’s re-election, Roy questioned in an interview with the New Republic whether the election was fair, due to what she described as the over-weening financial fire-power of Modi’s campaign.